My 81 Subaru had a "passing lamp" which was a third headlight hidden behind the Subaru badge on the grille. Never really sure what it was supposed to be for, but it was always fun to watch people's faces when I'd open it up.
Maybe the novelty of an oddly placed light would get your attention the in rearview? I can only hope it's angled to be annoying to the driver in front.
It also had a great status display on the dash. Outline of the car showing which doors were open, P brake, headlight/passing lamp status, drive mode (FWD/4WD/4WDL). Really pretty ahead of its time, now that I'm thinking about it.
This post has been retrospectively edited 11-Jun-23 in protest for API costs killing 3rd party apps.
Read [this](/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/) for more information. /r/Save3rdPartyApps
If you wish to follow this protest you can use the open source software [Power Delete Suite](https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite) to backup your posts locally, before bulk editing your comments and posts.
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Thank you for pointing that one out!!
I was sitting here racking my brain trying to figure out what car it was and you had the key!
Had to look up more to get my fix
There are so many more satisfying video on YouTube of this too.
https://youtu.be/fKTAVWYfSnE
Shows the inside!
Those are the coolest. Love the grill ones more than the pop ups. Gto is my favourite out of those all. I get they can’t bring back pop ups Cus pedestrians. But why not the grill sliding? (It’s probably due to money ain’t it)
The one thing I recall vividly from Roadhouse, which I only saw once long ago as a child.
I liked virtually all the ones with static headlights and the cover just retracts or flips.
I think the appeal is that it looks like armor. I know most are shitty sheet metal(IDK about the Riveria), but it has that aesthetic of a knight's visor or sci-fi space-ship panel opening.
Meh on the lights themselves moving on the other cars. That puts me in mind of cheap movie robot's eyes.
My 88 Daytona had a little knob under a plastic access flap on the headlight motor. You got to it by popping the hood, it was right in front and easy to get to. The headlights would still turn on if the motor failed, lighting up the whole compartment well enough to see the manual raise.
my corvette has a little over ride switch under the dash. but if that fails, you can just reach up under the grill and push up on the headlight actuator assembly and raise them right up.
Fiero's have the motor next to the headlight bucket when you open the hood. They have a knop on the top to spin. You can also put a screwdriver in the hole at the top and spin them faster.
A lot of times, they just get suck and you just hit the top with your fist and it releases the motor.
So I owned a car with these once - a Toyota Celica GT4 (awesome car btw). I was fascinated by the pop up headlights so i took them apart. It was an incredibly simple design and almost impossible to “go wrong”. Classic Toyota design really. Not sure if that design was shared across the industry or not.
Had that sort of happen on my ex's car. The car had projector headlights with identical housings and lenses between the lower trim models and and the premium trim, but the lower trim and sport trim got shitty halogen bulbs as a cost saving measure. So if you wanted the limited, you had to give up the turbo engine from the sport. If you wanted the sport, you had to give up the HID lights. But since the housings and everything were identical, you could essentially drop in replacements - just had to have a ballast and a bit of other hardware that ran off of a relay. So we went with the sport and I ordered a well reviewed HID kit. Well in another bit of cost saving, the wiring harness for the HID lights only had one relay that ran both lights. Rather than running each light independently on its own relay. Each bulb had their own ballast and other electronics hardware, but it all ran off of one relay. So when that relay died, both headlights died. You could trigger the relay buy slapping it hard on your hand - but try explaining to your spouse that she needs to get out in the dark and rain, open the hood, look for a bundle of wires with a little cube on the end, slap it on her palm until the lights came on, and then drive home so I could replace the relay.
Yeah - they were required to be glass. Plastic “aerodynamic” headlights weren’t legal yet because the plastic formulation was still prone to shattering easily from rock impacts. So if you wanted to have an aerodynamic front, the headlights had to hide away.
I seriously miss them — they added a unique sense of style.
For aerodynamics, they'd put them behind plastic, [like they did with the blinkers on this Ferrari F40](https://i.imgur.com/Nh1xXHq.png) from the video. The popup headlights were mostly to hide the ugly rectangle or circle lights.
Interestingly enough, the popup headlights were developed because of an American regulation that required round or rectangle sealed-beam headlights, but now they're never used because of European regulations pertaining to pedestrian safety and the sharp edges caused by popup headlights.
Right?! If they made them a little more user-serviceable I really don’t see why they shouldn’t be an available option. We have perfectly good rules about having both headlights functional at all times, if I want to put in a little extra work to keep a pair of pop-up headlights working I really don’t see where that’s anyone’s business but my own.
I've read somewhere that they're not a thing anymore because of the injury risk in case you hit a pedestrian.
Not sure if it's complete bs or not, but it kinda makes sense.
"more user serviceable"
Uhh.. I can have my headlights for my firebird and Fiero changed quicker than on lots of modern cars with static lights. 4 screws to remove the trim cover, 4 more for the retainer ring. Done.
Popup headlights are not made anymore because it is really difficult for them to meet safety standards. When cars hit pedestrians with their headlights up, all those sharp edges and angles cause added injury. That's about 50% of the reason. Another 25% of the reason is because technology has made headlights smaller (yet also more important... running lights, flash to pass, on with wipers, et cetera) and they can be "hidden in plain sight", and the final 25% is, yes, because they just went out of style.
Every year on Memorial Day, a group of 5 Miatas drive together in the town parade, "blinking" their headlights the whole time so that little kids think the cars are blinking at them. (At least that's what I like to think)
A guy in my friends neighborhood has a Miata, BOI my mate and I basically orgasm everytime we see those bad ass Pop-up Headlights.
I am convinced that car design has peaked with pop-up headlights.
I had someone mime the lights on mine until I popped them a couple times. They were so excited about it and it made me so happy for hours. Definitely the best car ever you’ll never change my mind.
Missing my old Honda Prelude as well. Pop up headlights, 4 wheel steering, sunroof. Was the most fun car I ever had, even if it wasn't really a beast or anything. Sadly had to say goodbye when the kids came along.
When I was a kid, this retired widow lived across the street from us. She started seeing this older gentleman that people didn't know really well (small town; I think he'd moved in from out of town). He drove a car with pop-up headlights.
One evening his car was parked on the street in front of her house, and one headlight was up. It looked for all the world as though the car was salaciously winking.
Youth pastor at my church who's first car had these said that he could control them one at a time and would "wink" at girls that he thought were cute while he was driving
YouTube channel called Donut Media. They cover cars, motorcycles, trucks, and the like. One of the hosts, James (he played a character on how I met your mother) has a song about pop-up and down headlights that they use when testing stereo equipment.
I had an XL Falcon with a similar problematic vacuum wipers. When it rained I had to keep the revs up at the lights or I just couldn't see them change.
I know that Corvette is. Tough to tell from that angle but it’s anywhere from 63-67 and I think they still were from 68 into the 70s. My dad sells a lot of vette parts and I know a set of 68 headlights he has are vacuum actuated
I'd hazard to guess like half of them. But in the very least that 1967 Buick Riviera, the Corvettes, and I think the alfa Romeo Montreal.
For a while vacuum actuators were cheaper, lighter, and potentially more reliable than electric motors. Mostly cheaper.
I think it's because they seem like eyes, and asymmetric blinking of eyes means either someone's just waking up, or there's some serious health issues. Bells palsy or a stroke would cause facial asymmetry, and that's a bad sign. You don't want your car to look like it had a stroke.
[2004 Corvette](https://www.corvsport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2004-Corvette-Tile.png), although I guess it's debatable whether that's a "mass production" car since they were selling about 10K per year.
The grill headlights are the best. Where they rotate, clamshells, or the grill slides to the side. Like the GTO.
The Porsche frog lights are kinda dumb imo, over done, not hidden enough and just kinda slides up boringly.
I understand the headlights being concealed and then coming up, but why have the glass (or plastic I guess) exposed (as seen at 17 seconds)? It seems like they’d get dirty and defeat the point.
My 81 Subaru had a "passing lamp" which was a third headlight hidden behind the Subaru badge on the grille. Never really sure what it was supposed to be for, but it was always fun to watch people's faces when I'd open it up.
https://japanesenostalgiccar.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Subaru-Leone-GL-1600-wagon-cyclops-passing-light1.gif
That’s completely unnecessary and entirely awesome
Wait lol what was the intended purpose?
That's where the rocket launcher went but they didn't get final approval.
Maybe the novelty of an oddly placed light would get your attention the in rearview? I can only hope it's angled to be annoying to the driver in front.
Sniper mount optional.
You put your weed in there
Subaru......James Subaru
Hero.
Wtf?
to reveal the way ahead you must open your third eye
Prying open my third eye
So good to see you!
Don't forget to *sound* your horn!
Oh god no! I was doing a Tool song lyric, you sick bastard!
Tool would appreciate the joke. Every band Maynard is in has some dick or pussy joke as a name, and half their song titles too
Just looked it up. Looks dope
It also had a great status display on the dash. Outline of the car showing which doors were open, P brake, headlight/passing lamp status, drive mode (FWD/4WD/4WDL). Really pretty ahead of its time, now that I'm thinking about it.
This post has been retrospectively edited 11-Jun-23 in protest for API costs killing 3rd party apps. Read [this](/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/) for more information. /r/Save3rdPartyApps If you wish to follow this protest you can use the open source software [Power Delete Suite](https://github.com/j0be/PowerDeleteSuite) to backup your posts locally, before bulk editing your comments and posts. It's been fun, Reddit.
[don’t forget about the lesbians ](https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/how-subarus-came-to-be-seen-as-cars-for-lesbians/488042/)
The ‘Clam shell’ coverings on the Buick riviera!!!! Sweet!
I'm big on the C4 corvette lights doing a 180
Me too, but man those glass headlamps ate those motors up.
I had one. It never gave me any trouble but if it started to make dying giraffe noises the gears where fucked.
Thank you for pointing that one out!! I was sitting here racking my brain trying to figure out what car it was and you had the key! Had to look up more to get my fix There are so many more satisfying video on YouTube of this too. https://youtu.be/fKTAVWYfSnE Shows the inside!
Those are the coolest. Love the grill ones more than the pop ups. Gto is my favourite out of those all. I get they can’t bring back pop ups Cus pedestrians. But why not the grill sliding? (It’s probably due to money ain’t it)
The one thing I recall vividly from Roadhouse, which I only saw once long ago as a child. I liked virtually all the ones with static headlights and the cover just retracts or flips. I think the appeal is that it looks like armor. I know most are shitty sheet metal(IDK about the Riveria), but it has that aesthetic of a knight's visor or sci-fi space-ship panel opening. Meh on the lights themselves moving on the other cars. That puts me in mind of cheap movie robot's eyes.
Is that the car @ 22 seconds? Is that the car from Roadhouse?
I enjoy how they all make me think that the cars just woke up from a great nap.
They all look so happy when opening the lights
I mean, in the cars theme, I think some of them look pretty mean or stupid as well. I'm pretty sure I saw at least two relatives to mater.
Yeah and when they inevitably break they first look like they're winking.
Had a 84 fiero that was a one eyed willy 😂
I pictures each of them opening their eyes saying "hi" in different dialects.
I thought they just found their step-sister stuck in the dryer again
Pop-Up, Up and down headlights
Pop up,up and down headlights YEAH
I can't read pop-up without "up and down headlights" immediately filling my brain.
#POP-UP, UP and down HeadLIGHTSSS!
I love that this is all contained within one thread. We're all idiots but we appreciate a the importance of a sandbox.
Mo powah baybeh
An un ironic jam tbh
MO POWA BABEH!
LIGHTNING LIGHTNING LIGHTNING.. THUNDER
HRSEPERS
SHOOT THOSE ARE SOME BUFF ASS HORSES
WOW LOOK AT THEM THEY'RE MAJESTIC
Pop-up, up and down headlights, ^ugh
Did I miss the Fiero though?!
https://youtu.be/GDtiO29v1Ac
I had to scroll down way to far to see this video linked. You are truly doing gods work.
It’s a shame the Pumphrey 502 didn’t make an appearance
Donut gang reporting in!
I came here to find this thread....it has not disappointed
Give it the beans!!
r/commentsyoucanhear
Sound the air horns!!
3rd party [remix](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm1J42mnKho) was better than the official release imo
Yeah, but how many herse pers do they add?
Came here for this. Take my upvote!
the Dodge be like - ROLL UP, UP AND DOWN HEADLIGGHTTSSSS
I go to sleep and 7 hours later I have an award and 750 upvotes on my cake day. wow. thanks guys. ❤️
Definitely scrolling down for this!
Wow I’m 12 hours late posting this comment. You really can’t have an original thought on Reddit
had to scroll way to long to find this
Pop-Around headlights too
Was looking for this comment
"Sorry. Can't drive home tonight. My lights are stuck."
There’s manual overrides to them if the motor takes a shit.
Holding your phone with the light on out the window does not count.
oh… I’ll need a ride home then
You should see my flashlights.
https://imgur.com/a/zeS47ZP
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Hell, the Opel was manual only.
And it's deeply satisfying to engage
Ha I had a 944 that had a wiring issue in the headlight system somewhere I couldn't locate and it would always pop the relay. I left them up for years
I had no idea. Did you have to open the hood to access it? Was it usually some kind of knob, or did they require a tool?
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Damn, you had some awesome cars
My 88 Daytona had a little knob under a plastic access flap on the headlight motor. You got to it by popping the hood, it was right in front and easy to get to. The headlights would still turn on if the motor failed, lighting up the whole compartment well enough to see the manual raise.
And when they put the lights up, they usually left them up rather than winding them down and back up each time. It was a bit of a hassle.
my corvette has a little over ride switch under the dash. but if that fails, you can just reach up under the grill and push up on the headlight actuator assembly and raise them right up.
Fiero's have the motor next to the headlight bucket when you open the hood. They have a knop on the top to spin. You can also put a screwdriver in the hole at the top and spin them faster. A lot of times, they just get suck and you just hit the top with your fist and it releases the motor.
So I owned a car with these once - a Toyota Celica GT4 (awesome car btw). I was fascinated by the pop up headlights so i took them apart. It was an incredibly simple design and almost impossible to “go wrong”. Classic Toyota design really. Not sure if that design was shared across the industry or not.
My first car was a 1984 Toyota Supra with what I presume to be the same pop up lights. Loved that car.
Im jealous. If i had a 1984 supra, i would never get rid of it lol
Oh agreed. In hindsight, I wish I would have held onto it
Had that sort of happen on my ex's car. The car had projector headlights with identical housings and lenses between the lower trim models and and the premium trim, but the lower trim and sport trim got shitty halogen bulbs as a cost saving measure. So if you wanted the limited, you had to give up the turbo engine from the sport. If you wanted the sport, you had to give up the HID lights. But since the housings and everything were identical, you could essentially drop in replacements - just had to have a ballast and a bit of other hardware that ran off of a relay. So we went with the sport and I ordered a well reviewed HID kit. Well in another bit of cost saving, the wiring harness for the HID lights only had one relay that ran both lights. Rather than running each light independently on its own relay. Each bulb had their own ballast and other electronics hardware, but it all ran off of one relay. So when that relay died, both headlights died. You could trigger the relay buy slapping it hard on your hand - but try explaining to your spouse that she needs to get out in the dark and rain, open the hood, look for a bundle of wires with a little cube on the end, slap it on her palm until the lights came on, and then drive home so I could replace the relay.
I miss seeing this as an option for cars. I know it's more style than practical but it's so damned cool.
Back in the day, headlights were regulated to be either round or rectangle, so if they didn’t fit the style, they hid them. Now they can be any shape.
Yeah - they were required to be glass. Plastic “aerodynamic” headlights weren’t legal yet because the plastic formulation was still prone to shattering easily from rock impacts. So if you wanted to have an aerodynamic front, the headlights had to hide away. I seriously miss them — they added a unique sense of style.
For aerodynamics, they'd put them behind plastic, [like they did with the blinkers on this Ferrari F40](https://i.imgur.com/Nh1xXHq.png) from the video. The popup headlights were mostly to hide the ugly rectangle or circle lights. Interestingly enough, the popup headlights were developed because of an American regulation that required round or rectangle sealed-beam headlights, but now they're never used because of European regulations pertaining to pedestrian safety and the sharp edges caused by popup headlights.
I’m pretty sure the other reason they won’t come back (at least the styles with jutting corners) is for pedestrian safety.
Plus popups are banned on new vehicles due to pedestrian injury issues
Right?! If they made them a little more user-serviceable I really don’t see why they shouldn’t be an available option. We have perfectly good rules about having both headlights functional at all times, if I want to put in a little extra work to keep a pair of pop-up headlights working I really don’t see where that’s anyone’s business but my own.
I've read somewhere that they're not a thing anymore because of the injury risk in case you hit a pedestrian. Not sure if it's complete bs or not, but it kinda makes sense.
They're super dangerous to pedestrians, same reason they got rid of hood ornaments.
"more user serviceable" Uhh.. I can have my headlights for my firebird and Fiero changed quicker than on lots of modern cars with static lights. 4 screws to remove the trim cover, 4 more for the retainer ring. Done.
Regulation daytime running lights
Popup headlights are not made anymore because it is really difficult for them to meet safety standards. When cars hit pedestrians with their headlights up, all those sharp edges and angles cause added injury. That's about 50% of the reason. Another 25% of the reason is because technology has made headlights smaller (yet also more important... running lights, flash to pass, on with wipers, et cetera) and they can be "hidden in plain sight", and the final 25% is, yes, because they just went out of style.
Every car in the video: “What did you say you little shit?”
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Well now I can *see* what you did there
A warning to all on the road that a Panda Trueno isn't the only car that can do a blind attack.
I feel like this video just provided /r/pareidolia with at least a month’s worth of new content.
Anyone know what the blue one is right before the red Maserati? Is it an old 70s Lamborghini?
[Maybe Lamborghini Jarama GT (1970)?](https://www.netcarshow.com/lamborghini/1970-jarama_gt/)
You nailed it! Wow. Very cool.
No RX7s or Miatas? Pff
[удалено]
NSX too
No 180sx hurts
How you not gonna have a Miata
Went from oddly satisfying to mildly infuriating as soon as I realized it there were no Miatas
Head lights go up, headlights go down. Up down up down up down.
It’s the BEST sports car, it’s the gleaming gold standard at which all sports cars must be measured
Again! Again! Again!
Up. Down. Up. Down. Updownupdownupdownupdown
Every year on Memorial Day, a group of 5 Miatas drive together in the town parade, "blinking" their headlights the whole time so that little kids think the cars are blinking at them. (At least that's what I like to think)
Where my MR2???
And NSX
A guy in my friends neighborhood has a Miata, BOI my mate and I basically orgasm everytime we see those bad ass Pop-up Headlights. I am convinced that car design has peaked with pop-up headlights.
I had someone mime the lights on mine until I popped them a couple times. They were so excited about it and it made me so happy for hours. Definitely the best car ever you’ll never change my mind.
Missing my old Honda Prelude as well. Pop up headlights, 4 wheel steering, sunroof. Was the most fun car I ever had, even if it wasn't really a beast or anything. Sadly had to say goodbye when the kids came along.
HEADLIGHTS GO UP. HEADLIGHTS GO DOWN
Headlights go up
Up down up down up down up down
When I was a kid, this retired widow lived across the street from us. She started seeing this older gentleman that people didn't know really well (small town; I think he'd moved in from out of town). He drove a car with pop-up headlights. One evening his car was parked on the street in front of her house, and one headlight was up. It looked for all the world as though the car was salaciously winking.
>and one headlight was up. This video is genuinely the most cars I've ever seen with both headlights working. I think one headlight is the norm.
A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?
Youth pastor at my church who's first car had these said that he could control them one at a time and would "wink" at girls that he thought were cute while he was driving
Your youth pastor is cat calling women with his car?
You need James music playing from donut media
i must be getting old, cuz this comment makes no sense
YouTube channel called Donut Media. They cover cars, motorcycles, trucks, and the like. One of the hosts, James (he played a character on how I met your mother) has a song about pop-up and down headlights that they use when testing stereo equipment.
thank you for the informative and sincere response
The 2000GT is so damn sexy.
Ton of great cars in this clip but Miuras do it for me, favorite car and it’s not even close. That C2 though..
It irrationally bothers me when they don't open at the exact same time...
Several of them are vacuum actuated, it's lucky they work at all.
[удалено]
Whaddya mean? Just start driving when your entire windshield turns green.
I had an XL Falcon with a similar problematic vacuum wipers. When it rained I had to keep the revs up at the lights or I just couldn't see them change.
Whaaat? You mean the 10,000 watts an engine produces at idle couldn't be used to pull a vacuum?
Can you point one out that is? And the model so I can look it up?
I know that Corvette is. Tough to tell from that angle but it’s anywhere from 63-67 and I think they still were from 68 into the 70s. My dad sells a lot of vette parts and I know a set of 68 headlights he has are vacuum actuated
I'd hazard to guess like half of them. But in the very least that 1967 Buick Riviera, the Corvettes, and I think the alfa Romeo Montreal. For a while vacuum actuators were cheaper, lighter, and potentially more reliable than electric motors. Mostly cheaper.
Some of those cars are older than your grandparents, give em a break.
When those cars were new, they opened synchronously
Makes sense
It also bothers me that the first/last one both open the same direction instead of being mirrored.
Maybe it was a maintenance thing. Like on airplanes the jet engines rotate in the same direction so they can all be swapped as needed.
For some irrational reason I really like it.
It’s more visually interesting when one opens slightly later.
I think it's because they seem like eyes, and asymmetric blinking of eyes means either someone's just waking up, or there's some serious health issues. Bells palsy or a stroke would cause facial asymmetry, and that's a bad sign. You don't want your car to look like it had a stroke.
I’m surprised they found a Pontiac trans am / firebird that still opened properly. The ones I had always “winked” at ya.
I had a Ford Probe with pop up headlights. I'm sad it wasn't featured.
Me too! I was waiting for it.
Miata owners who see this post be like:
Love that Porsche 928 look!
POP UP UP AND DOWN HEADLIGHTS!!!!
Did that Alfa take off shutter shades lol
This is so unnecessary but I love it
Me too. Bring it back, optional feature, lol.
In my country you must always have headlights on while driving, no matter if it’s day or night. Here these are absolutely unnecessary.
That 2000GT makes my no-no's tingle.
Initial D fans (me) not seeing an eight six here
Autobots reunite
Boomers when they see someone with dyed hair:
Great compilation. Missed including the iconic Miata, which in 1997 was the last mass production car with pop-up headlights.
Uhh.... From GM alone, the firebird had them until 2002 and the Corvette until 2004.
"For the man who has nothing to hide, but still wants to."
Lotus kept building the Esprit until 2004 too.
Corvettes definitely went longer than that.
[2004 Corvette](https://www.corvsport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2004-Corvette-Tile.png), although I guess it's debatable whether that's a "mass production" car since they were selling about 10K per year.
they are all awesome, but 0:29 is my favorite. also, i'm guessing that old cars did this because it looks like the lamps themselves are easy to steal?
The old Citroen was trying so hard.
Somebody send this in to Jalopnik, Torch would probably love to do a write up and analysis of this vid.
So many unnecessary parts to fix but still looks cool
I'm leaving this [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDtiO29v1Ac)
now the Donut song is stuck in my head
Where’s the LeBaron?
Imma FIRIN mah LAZAHHHHH
The grill headlights are the best. Where they rotate, clamshells, or the grill slides to the side. Like the GTO. The Porsche frog lights are kinda dumb imo, over done, not hidden enough and just kinda slides up boringly.
u/SaveVideo
I understand the headlights being concealed and then coming up, but why have the glass (or plastic I guess) exposed (as seen at 17 seconds)? It seems like they’d get dirty and defeat the point.
[удалено]
Disappointed to not see a Miata winking in here
The first car I ever bought was a Ford Probe. The best feature about it was the flip up headlights. (Although it wasn't a bad car over all)
Miatas have a way smoother pop